The purpose of this activity is to improve balance and spatial perception, for this we use a ball. And holding your body in a single foot, you can not let the ball fall when the colleague throws the ball.
O objetivo desta atividade é melhorar o equilíbrio e a percepção espacial, para isso usamos uma bola. E segurando seu corpo em um único pé, não pode deixar a bola cair quando o colega lançar a bola.

In this activity the students performed the jump training with rope, to increase the resistance of the bones and to improve the heart rhythm and the resistance of several muscles of the body and also to improve the Coordination, balance, resistance.
Nesta atividade os estudante realizaram o treino de salto com corda, para aumentar a resistência dos ossos e melhorar o ritmo cardíaco e a resistência de vários músculos do corpo e melhorar também a Coordenação, equilíbrio, resistência.

Antes de qualquer atividade física é importante alongar o corpo e preparar ele para as atividades, evitando acidentes e lesões.
Before any physical activity it is important to lengthen the body and prepare it for activities, avoiding accidents and injuries.

In this activity, students began a sequence of physical activities, first warming up and then the basketball game to develop a strength of the muscles and bones of the upper and lower.
Nesta atividade os estudantes iniciaram uma sequência de atividades físicas, primeiro o aquecimento e depois o jogo de basquete para desenvolver a força dos músculos e ossos dos membros superiores e inferiores.

In this activity the students investigated the effects of microgravity on the human body, on the body of the astronauts in the international space station and also studied the effects of terrestrial gravity in our body. discovered their height in space.
Nesta atividade os estudantes investigaram os efeitos da micro gravidade no corpo humano, no corpo dos astronautas na estação espacial internacional e estudaram também os efeitos da gravidade terrestre no nosso corpo. descobriram sua altura no espaço.

In this activity the students understood about the importance of keeping our body hydrated, and the importance of keeping the body hydrated in space.
They learned to identify signs of dehydration from the color of urine and studied the amount of water in each part of our body as well as food and the amount of water we should ingest daily.
Nesta atividade os estudantes entenderam sobre a importância de manter o nosso corpo hidratado, e a importância de manter o corpo hidratado no espaço.
Aprenderam a identificar sinais de desidratação a partir da cor da urina e estudaram sobre a quantidade de água em cada parte do nosso corpo e também nos alimentos e a quantidade de água que devemos ingerir diariamente.

In this activity students learned more about microbes, how they affect human life on Earth and Space. We study and investigate which places there is more proliferation of microbes in our environment and in our bodies.
One question was presented to the students, if you let a candy fall on a surface that you do not see the microorganisms would you eat? And if you could see these microorganisms would you still eat?
Nesta atividades os estudantes aprenderam mais sobre microbios, como eles afetam a vida humana na Terra e no Espaço. Estudamos e investigamos quais lugares existem maior proliferação de microbios em nosso meio ambiente e em nossos corpos.
Uma questão foi apresentada aos estudantes, se você deixar um doce cair em uma superfície que você não vee os microorganismos você comeria? E se você pudesse ver estes microorganismos ainda comeria?

Along with the Space Rock 'n Roll activity, the Italian Space Cadets have been hard at work... getting dizzy!!

Astronauts can feel quite dizzy when they first arrive on the ISS. Its because their bodies need 24 to 48 hours to find new ways to control itself and adapt to life in a micro gravity environment.

The outstanding ESA astronaut Tim Peake did a great dizziness experiment up in the ISS. With the help of a fellow astronaut, he did an infinite amount of super fast sommersaults and got dizzy to test how long it takes to recover from dizziness in Space. He recovered really fast!

So, what did the Italian Space Cadets do... they did the experiment too...but here on Earth!

Following the steps of Scientific Method, they asked they same questions as Tim Peake 'Can I make myself dizzy? How quickly can I recover? Does it make me feel unwell?'

Well, the Italian Space Cadets have been having a rock 'n rolling good time! They have been doing beginner, intermediate and advanced sommersaults all the way down the length of the school gym! They have been rolling through hula hoops and inventing some other very creative ways to roll! Lots of fun and hardwork. Due to the gravity here on Earth, you really have to use you abdominal muscles, your legs and bend your back to make your sommersaults spectacular.

One thing is certain, those Astronauts must have a lot of fun doing amazing sommersaults in space! It's worth the crazy roller coaster ride on the Soyuz there and back to get the opportunity to do fun sommersaults in the ISS!

Having painted the world on our playground, the BIG QUESTION was - "How can we walk around the world, if the world is mostly water?"
Problem solved.
"We can make floating stepping stones."
"We can build a bridge, it has to be a very long bridge, and thin, to go from this Island to this one."
"I've made a machine, because inside the Earth is rock, it's going to break it and we can walk in the tunnel."
These are some of the comments made by our 4 and 5 year olds, who used many resources to help solve the problem.

In good Montessorians we learned about atoms, mole and atomic/molar mass calculation and the notion of Big Bang (Montessori black ribbon and humility lesson very soon for visualizing time since Big-Bang and Earth’s birth).

We also learn about molecules and combinaison of molecules on Earth and in Space...And we did a sensory activity to recognize the smells on Earth (soil), our moon (burnt smell), Mars (rotten egg), I.S.S. (sweating), Milky Way (raspberry and rum) etc. One combinaison of 50 molecules in Space made our galaxy smell raspberry and taste rum...(dont’ worry it was imitation rum extract for pastries and kids don’t taste this flavour ;-)
We also made a memory game cards about molecules.

See you soon. Please Canadian teams share your photos and activities :-)

Victoria K.
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” (Chinese thought)

The Preschool 1 team took on the challenge of finding our "space height" very seriously! After watching the Mission X video we learned that gravity will push us down and that we are taller when we're laying down. So for our experiment we made sure everyone was measured on their backs before getting up from nap. Check out our growth chart!

The Italian Space Cadets are working super hard in the school gym! They have learned that agility means moving your body quickly and precisely. The Cadets have also learned about the effects long duration missions have on the bodies of astronauts. Living in a microgravity environment for a long periods of time weakens astronauts muscles as they don't use their muscles like they do on Earth. The effects can be seen when they return to Earth from their mission and they need to do lots of rehabilitation to restore and maintain their agility.

Here are some pictures taken of the Cadets by Mrs Lu, the Cadet's Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation Specialist (their teacher)! The future astronauts did the Astro Agility Course, jumped over hurdles, raced through hoops and did basketball (Astronaut Thomas Pesquet's favourite sport!) training.

Despite the hard work and sweat, the Italian Space Cadets are enjoying themselves and are improving their agility.

The Italian Space Cadets are ready for their mission! All systems go!
From the beautiful city of Trento, surrounded by the spectacular Dolomite mountains, the Italian Space Cadets are excited and pumped! Niccolo', Alberto, Carlo, Paula, Elisa, Agata, Elena, Tommaso, Nicolo', Giulia, Laraib, Leonardo, Federico, Giorgio, Adrian, Sara, Samuele, Marie, Alice, Vittorio and Luca are training hard to race around the Earth!
Go Paolo Nespoli and go Mission X Italy!
Good luck to all the teams around the world!

We took off on our first mission to explore and lay out our quarter mile stone markers. We learned how to measure our own heart rates, both at rest and after exercise. Our first lap was a success and our next walk back will include carrying a weighted backpack. Looking forward to measuring results, adding variables, and strength training! Blessings to y'all from Texas!

To see what the world is made of we painted the land and sea of the Earth on our playground. The children noticed there was a large amount of water on the Earth. The big big question is, how can we walk around the world if the world is mostly water?

Astronauts need to be very good in many areas and especially in mathematics and logic.
So my team works on Algebra ! The youngest, 10 years old, thinks that factoring and expanding equations is a game... All his results were good. Thanks NASA (and Fields Institute...) :-)
We are trying also two free books of Canadian Space Agency: RoboMath and Robomatique3: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/educators/resources/robomath.asp Students can learn in a 3D Space Station environnement.

Canadian Teams don’t forget to share your mission/photos on the blog :-)
Wish you all the best,
Victoria K.

How to calculate your weight/mass on different planets, satellite or ISS if you are an astronaut?
We found the answer on the free document of "Mars Project, Next Generation" and we learned to calculate in newtons (the unit of calculation).
We took the opportunity to also learn a little more about the three laws of Newton (the scientist).

Don't forget to register on MX-Train like an astronaut :-) If you are Canadian teacher registered on the website and if your classroom have questions about Spatial sciences in general feel free to contact me for a Q/A (French or English).

Victoria K.
Canadian Country Lead/Canadian Coordinator for MX
Team Lead for "Space Cadets" (Homeschooling ;-)
Student in Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics with Paris Observatory

What happens when you have a mission to complete but your teammate gets hurt?
The Fireflowers started off the season with a team building activity. They were assigned a mission, on the Moon. They were paired up in teams of two. The only problem: their partner was hurt half way through the mission. They had to help their partner get to base at the same time completing the mission of collecting lunar rocks and bringing the science instruments to base (they had to pick up a shoe box). This was a three legged race and they could use only one of their arms/hands to pick objects. Communication between the teammates was crucial.
Great team work Fireflowers!!!